I ask you to please save me from my brother. Save me from Esau. I am afraid of him. I am afraid that he will come and kill all of us, even the mothers with the children.
The servant said, “Blessed is the Lord, the God of my master Abraham. The Lord has been kind and loyal to my master. The Lord has led me to the right girl for my master’s son.”
After that Esau hated Jacob because of this blessing. Esau thought to himself, “My father will soon die, and there will be a time of sadness for him. But after that I will kill Jacob.”
That message scared Jacob. He divided the people who were with him into two groups. He divided all the flocks and the herds and the camels into two groups.
Then King David went in and sat in front of the Lord. David said, “Lord, my Master, why am I so important to you? Why is my family important? Why have you made me so important?
God, listen to me.\par Come quickly and save me.\par Be my Rock, {\cf2\super [186]} \par Be my place of safety.\par Be my fortress. {\cf2\super [187]} \par Protect me!\par
God, there is a man who is not one of your loyal followers.\par That man is crooked and tells lies.\par God, save me from that man!\par Defend me and prove that I am right.\par
If you insult your friend, then he will be harder to win back than a city with strong walls. And arguments separate people like palace gates with strong bars across them.
So your armies will hear the noise of battle. And all your fortresses {\cf2\super [112]} will be destroyed. It will be like the time Shalman {\cf2\super [113]} destroyed Beth Arbel. At that time of war, mothers were killed with their children.
“You might be walking along a path and find a bird’s nest in a tree or on the ground. If the mother bird is sitting with her baby birds or on the eggs, then you must not take the mother bird with the babies.
But your ancestors cried to the Lord for help. They said, ‘We have sinned. We left the Lord, and we served the false gods Baal [115] and Ashtoreth. [116] But now save us from our enemies, and we will serve you.’